Duplex Architekten
With Others’ Eyes

Exhibitions on contemporary architecture usually work with plans, models, and photographs. The medium of film, however, hardly plays a role in this context. This is particularly surprising, as the moving image can illuminate two aspects that traditional (or better: non-moving) media cannot address. First, space can be experienced only through movement. Second, film can document the appropriation of architecture as it occurs. In their exhibition “With Others’ Eyes” and their eponymous film that will celebrate its premiere here, Duplex Architekten now specifically address this issue. In doing so, they also explore the relationship between architectural intension and lived reality.

The exhibition marks their completion of the cooperative housing project “Mehr als Wohnen” (“More than Living”) at the Hunziker complex in Zürich. Despite the many good reasons to do so, the architects will not follow the customary route of focusing the exhibition on the design aspects of this project. Instead, they have created an interactive film project, in order to portray the building from the perspective of its users. Residents of the housing project followed stage directions developed specifically for the film to help them visually explore their new domicile according to their own interpretation. With this strategy, Duplex Architekten transfer their interest in the balance between unity and diversity from their architectural concept into film, challenging conventional genre boundaries. “With Others’ Eyes” brings together principles of conceptual art with strong documentary elements. While the residents and their interactions are the main focus of the film, the architecture is more than a mere backdrop; it silently plays the leading role.

For the exhibition, the gallery will be transformed into a pop-up movie theater. There will be hourly screenings, with beer and popcorn available in between. The installation will be rounded off by a bar and chandelier by Piet Hein van Eek. The Dutch artist follows strategies similar to Duplex Architekten: both collect simple, raw materials into curated series, generating from their deliberate arrangement an unmistakably unique creation.

Duplex Architekten was founded in 2007 by Anne Kaestle and Dan Schürch in Zürich, Switzerland. Much of their work stems from successful competition entries. Current projects include a residential complex in Limmatfeld, Dietikon, and a housing development in Buchegg, Zürich (both to be completed in 2017), as well as the conversion of a former granary at Erlenmatt Ost, Basel (to be completed in 2018) and an urban quarter at the Vetropack complex in Bülach Nord (to be completed in 2019).